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© 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

γ-Valerolactone (GVL) is a promising bio-based platform molecule with significant potential for energy applications. The production of GVL via biomass-based levulinic acid (LA) is an important reaction. To enhance the conversion and selectivity of non-precious-metal catalysts in the LA-to-GVL process and to better understand the key factors influencing this conversion, we conducted a series of experiments. In this study, supported Cu-Ni bimetallic catalysts (Cu-Ni2/Al2O3) were prepared using layered double hydroxides (LDHs) as a precursor. Compared with Cu-Ni catalysts synthesized via the conventional impregnation method, the Cu-Ni2/Al2O3 catalysts exhibit higher catalytic activity and stability. The results demonstrated that efficient conversion was achieved with isopropanol as the hydrogen donor solvent, a reaction temperature of 180 °C, and a reaction time of 1 h. The yield of GVL reached nearly 90%, with a decrease of approximately only 6% after six consecutive cycles. The Cu-Ni2/Al2O3 catalyst proved to be effective for converting biomass-derived LA to GVL, offering a route that not only reduces production costs and environmental impact but also enables efficient biomass-to-energy conversion.

Details

Title
Conversion of Levulinic Acid to γ-Valerolactone Using Hydrotalcite-Derived Cu-Ni Bimetallic Catalyst
Author
Zhao Shikang 1 ; Chen, Guohong 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Zheng Kaiqi 1 ; Li, Shaojie 1 ; Xu, Jiaqi 1 ; Wang Fanan 1 ; Liu, Xueping 1 ; Weng Rengui 2 

 College of Ecological Environment and Urban Construction, Fujian University of Technology, Fuzhou 350118, China; [email protected] (S.Z.); [email protected] (G.C.); [email protected] (K.Z.); [email protected] (S.L.); [email protected] (J.X.); [email protected] (F.W.) 
 College of Ecological Environment and Urban Construction, Fujian University of Technology, Fuzhou 350118, China; [email protected] (S.Z.); [email protected] (G.C.); [email protected] (K.Z.); [email protected] (S.L.); [email protected] (J.X.); [email protected] (F.W.), Institute of Biology and Chemistry, Fujian University of Technology, Fuzhou 350118, China 
First page
1110
Publication year
2025
Publication date
2025
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
22279717
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
3194638965
Copyright
© 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.